Introducing Cal Kitty

It's been some time since we said goodbye to our beloved cat Isis.  (Stupid terrorist group had to name themselves after the best cat ever) We have missed having a pet around but the break has been good....not having to make arrangements when we go out of town, worrying about shutting the door before the cat tries to get outside and cleaning the litter box.

The timing was right for a cat but not a permanent one.  Enter Cal Kitty....

 

 

 

This pretty little guy is my parents cat.  He originally was my sister's cat when she lived in California (hence the name) and then made his way to Maine where he resides with them.  My parents have a big trip coming up and we have a pet free house; this was a no brainer.  He has been with us for almost 2 weeks and will stay about another month.  He has settled in very nicely and everyone is happy to have him around, especially Colby.  He loves animals but has a soft spot for cats.  They already knew each other but Colby has taken this time with Cal to get more familiar with him. Colby decided to start with drawing Cal's portrait.  He took his time and Cal was a very good model.   

 









 

I think they will both enjoy their time together.   It will be a fun month. 



Starting Lists...

It's only October but thoughts of Christmas have started to creep into this house. I'm certainly not complaining, I love Christmas and don't mind it sneaking into our lives early. One big bold clear way this is happening is through the number of catalogs that have come in the mail.  I often recycle them before they make it in the house but a few have snuck in under the radar.  Colby and Lincoln love looking through them over and over again.  Colby has started to circle some items he thinks he may want.  At one point Tom saw him circle a princess dress-up collection and he asked if he really wanted it.  Colby just laughed at him and informed him he had circled it for his friend Harper.  He then wrote her name down beside it so as not to confuse anyone else.  I loved that he wasn't just thinking about himself as he looked through the catalogs.  He even picked out some items that he thought his brother might like too. 

 

 

 

The lists will change as the catalogs get recycled over the next couple of months but the ideas they give me will help me give the big man in red some hints! 

 



The Fall Bucket List (thanks to pinterest)

Living in New England in the fall provides you with endless activities and seasonal rites of passage. Combine this with the time sucking vortex of Pinterest and you have yourself a fall bucket list you can complete.  I've printed the damn thing off and hung it on my fridge to encourage myself to think about all the great fall things we can do as a family. 

As I've said before, leaves are my favorite toy in the fall.  You rake them up, jump in them, throw them in the air and then dispose of them.  Also, we don't go to the apple orchard once, we go several times! You go once to get apples to bake pies and the rest of the times you go to wander aimlessly to kill an hour and to enjoy the weather.  (I also volunteered on both boys school visits to apple orchards so we really got our fix this year.)

 Another two fabulous fall things and two more checks off the damn fall bucket list was visiting a pumpkin patch and finding our way through a corn maze.  Well the good old Upper Valley region rocks because this could be done at a wonderful farm just a few miles away.  Even in a soggy drizzle  we survived an amazing corn maze that the boys lead us through and picked our weight in pumpkins.  It is neat to show the boys a pumpkin patch instead of just picking pumpkins out from a pile.





pumpkin patch selfie

 

The bucket list also had some less than adventurous activities on it that could make you feel better about checking more things off the list. For example, drinking pumpkin coffee, drinking apple cider, making a fall mantel and getting cozy all are pretty lame activities but nonetheless got checked off our family fall bucket list. 

Back to real items! Going for a hike and making s'mores are some other pretty easy things to do during this time of year.  Hiking in the fall provides such a different point of view from any other time of year and you don't sweat to death because it is so chilly out.

The fall bucket list continues and we still have plenty of time in the season to check more things off. Up next carving pumpkins....

Sometimes it's expensive to be right...

Katie R.

Saturday night a few weeks ago the adults were watching 2 tvs, yes 2 tvs in the living room so we could watch Ohio State and Notre Dame.  

A suggestion was made that the kids watch a movie but with having 2 of the tvs already in the living room, I suggested they take a computer downstairs. My husband was worried they would break the computer, our 6 year old computer that only works 1/2 of the time.  Instead he suggests the kids watch tv in our room because it's a bigger tv (another time I will explain why we had a 50 inch television in our tiny bedroom).

I told my husband I didn't think it was a great idea but in an attempt to not be the nagging wife and uncool mom I said ok.  

So it started cute like this:

Then Wes found this:

And then this happened:

We will never know the true story of how it happened, meaning whether Wes acted on his own or with the support of his cohorts, but we do know that Wes was able to break the inside of the television.

I was right and we are now minus one television.  Sometimes it's expensive being right.